I'm looking to buy an older F150 probably a 2001 with the 5.4 Triton. My buddy owns a 99 with 120,000 miles on it and has had no problems what so ever since day 1. My question is about the spark plug blow outs that i keep hearing about. I have a cousin who works at a ford dealership and has assured me its the 04-present F150's with the 3 valve motors that have this problem, he said he has never seen a 2000 with the blow out problem. However if you search google obviously people are saying 01, 02's have had this problem too. Since i have 2 people who both swear its only the 3 valve motor and not the 2 valve i'd figure i would drop a line in this forum to get some more info. Thanks.

 

You know what im sorry i did a little bit more research about this issue and the 3 valve motors have the plug freezing in the head. I've read about the 03's having new heads put on them but only during a certain time. Another question i have is does the 4.6 have the same heads which can cause this problem? I had a 96 thunderbird that had the 4.6 and i've never had a problem and sold it at 120k. So would i be safer going with the 4.6 since i really don't tow much except a small boat so i don't need that extra power, or does the 4.6 have the same problem.

 

ALL 2V modulars can spit a plug and yes the 3V's have the opposite problem up to '06 or '07. Torque them properly, change them every 60K and if you start to hear a rattle check them and you should be good.

 

I changed mine @ 72K and had no problems. Make sure the engine is cool, use anti-sieze on the threads and properly torque them and you will have no problems.

 

Alright cool thanks for the advice guys. After doing a butt load of research on these 2 motors it seems like the pattern is the spark plug spitting is more common with the 5.4 because out of 10 complaints i read theres maybe 1 or 2 people with the 4.6. I have that motor in my tbird and its been great just did plugs and wires not too long ago, had to take out the alternator because the wires were ran under it and i didn't want to fight them. Im gonna go with the 4.6 since i don't need the extra tourqe and power i just need a truck.

 

Odd because they use the same heads

 

I think if you look at some of the consumer reports, they show that all of the modulars have the potential for launching plugs, but some of the worst were around 2000 and 2001. From around 2003, they started putting more threads in the head which did not TOTALLY cure the problem, but substantially improved it.

There is a LOT of info on this problem out there. The more you kick the rocks, the more crawls out.